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Difficulties in being atheist?

Started by tacoma_kyle, May 07, 2007, 01:51:12 AM

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tacoma_kyle

Aside from me always spelling it wrong...???

Anything that sucks about disbelieving? Heh, yeah I have a few. Relationships with others for a start.

I think it would be much easier to just believe lol.
Me, my projects and random pictures, haha.

http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o22/tacoma_kyle/

"Tom you gotta come out of the closet, oh my gawd!" lol

Sophia

#1
I am sure it is 'easier'. Go along with the popular crowd, fit in, all that. "You must do what you feel is right, of course.."

Sophia
"Fear is strange soil. Mainly it grows obedience like corn, which grows in rows and makes weeding easy. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground." from Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

cheddamash

#2
Yeah, I agree with your relationship comment. My wife is a Lutheran and it was hard at first.
"Like computer viruses, successful mind viruses will tend to be hard for their victims to detect. If you are the victim of one, the chances are that you won't know it, and may even vigorously deny it." - Richard Dawkins

SteveS

#3
"Niceties".  In other words, people think nothing of telling me "I'll pray for you", or "God has blessed you", but I can't really say anything in return, right?  In fact, I think I would be widely considered to be a jerk for saying "please don't pray for me", or "What god?" in answer to these things.

Also: public opinion.  People may think you're an immoral monster because you don't believe in god.

In the end, I think the positives outweigh the negatives!  It sure makes me happy to be an atheist - I just feel right with the world.  (shrugs).

Tom62

#4
"Niceties" too. My wife's family live in the catholic south (in Bayern). where people greet you with a "Grüß, Gott (Greet, God). If I then answer back with a proper guten Morgen, -Mittag or -Abend the result is that I'm immediately labeled as a non-catholic outsider.
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

Scrybe

#5
Quote from: "cheddamash"Yeah, I agree with your relationship comment. My wife is a Lutheran and it was hard at first.

That would suck.  I can't imagine being married to someone who's core beliefs were fundamentally different.  (Not that I'm saying your marriage sucks!  I'm just saying I wouldn't like it.)
"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

cheddamash

#6
Nah, it's not that bad. It was a little at first, because she didn't know anything else. She was pretty sheltered.  She's come to realize that there's a lot of ways to think other than her own. As long as both people have an open mind all is well. Now how to raise our kids... this is troubling. This is why I joined the forum actually... to see if anyone else is in my situation.
"Like computer viruses, successful mind viruses will tend to be hard for their victims to detect. If you are the victim of one, the chances are that you won't know it, and may even vigorously deny it." - Richard Dawkins

Piemaster

#7
I find the hardest thing about being an atheist is dealing with the pedestal that mainstream religions are given in Western society.  Having to tiptoe around various topics and groups because you are worried about offending their religion.  Having to pretend to have respect for a religion or be labelled as an intollerant.

Tom62

#8
Hi Piemaster, great post! You really hit the hammer on the head!
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

MommaSquid

#9
Quote from: "tacoma_kyle"I think it would be much easier to just believe lol.

Nope, I tried that...not easy!  Being true to your own thoughts is easier than trying to swallow the one's forced on you by others.

tacoma_kyle

#10
Yeah but honestly, do you really think that the distant majority of religious people out here actually try to think for themselves?

Probably everyone out there has a sort of subconcious view of themselves. Not appearance, but role and standing in the sosciety of the highest importance to them. Now whatever that sosciety throws at them, many will take in info and act according to some of it if it can benefit them in the long run. Does anyone conciously think about it in the same manner that the subconcious thinks about it? Probably not many...very very very few...

Ok did you get anything outta my attempt at an intellectual? lol. Not really but I do like to think about human behavior...which obviously doesnt make it true, but I like to think it does! I'll just stick with my sub-concious imaginary self! haha, but somewhat true.
Me, my projects and random pictures, haha.

http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o22/tacoma_kyle/

"Tom you gotta come out of the closet, oh my gawd!" lol

Piemaster

#11
Quote from: "MommaSquid"
Quote from: "tacoma_kyle"I think it would be much easier to just believe lol.

Nope, I tried that...not easy!  Being true to your own thoughts is easier than trying to swallow the one's forced on you by others.

Actually I disagree.  I think that in the vast majority of cases it is easier to believe what you are told rather than try and think things out for yourself.

MommaSquid

#12
Quote from: "Piemaster"Actually I disagree.  I think that in the vast majority of cases it is easier to believe what you are told rather than try and think things out for yourself.

I don't know what goes on in other people's heads, only my own.  The vast majority can believe what they want about religion...as long as they don't try to force it on me.

tacoma_kyle

#13
Ya know that movie, The Matrix?

Think of it that way maybe. Except the real reality probably doesnt suck as bad lol, but there are more complications in it.
Me, my projects and random pictures, haha.

http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o22/tacoma_kyle/

"Tom you gotta come out of the closet, oh my gawd!" lol

THE_oldy

#14
Just about everyone of my age group is an atheist were I'm from, and when you meet someone that isn't you don't think twice about it. I didn't realize people go through hardship for being an atheist in a predominately theistic environment. Theists certainly don't get put though hardship in the atheistic environment I'm in.